Pasta, whether in the form of flat noodles, macaroni or any of a myriad of shapes and sizes, is consumed worldwide because it is economical, easy to prepare, shelf stable when dried, and can be served in many ways. Pasta products are traditionally manufactured by blending of wheat flour and water to form an homogeneous mixture, kneading of this mixture to form a dough, extruding of the dough into desired shapes at room temperature and at atmospheric pressure or under vacuum, and subsequent air drying of the extruded products for a period of time to provide a dried pasta product.
A small but significant proportion of the population cannot tolerate wheat gluten, which has been linked to a specific disorder of intestinal absorption, celiac disease. The treatment prescribed is a gluten-free diet, which is adequate in all nutrients, and a strict adherence to the diet. Pasta products on the market made solely from rice flour or corn flour in lieu of wheat flour or semolina do not adequately simulate chewability of the durum-based products, and have poor cooking quality. The use of starchy legume flours would be advantageous, since they are not only higher in protein and lysine content but are completely gluten-free.
In the applicants' laboratory, preparation of legume flour pasta on a regular pasta extruder has been attempted. However, the legume flour pasta had poor quality, particularly in terms of texture, flavor, and sensory properties. Significant disintegration of legume flour pasta during cooking was observed. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a process for manufacturing legume pasta products with improved texture, flavor and good integrity during cooking.
Substantial efforts have been made in the past to develop "quick cooking" or "instant" wheat-based pasta products by extrusion cooking processes. U.S. Pat. No. 3,846,563 discloses quick cooking pasta products. They are produced by forming a dough containing at least 50% wheat flour, which is then formed into noodles by extrusion and the noodles are dried to a moisture content of less than 6%. U.S. Pat. No. 4,394,397 discloses an extrusion process for production of instant-cooking pasta products having a porous, cellular structure which enables the products to be rehydrated for consumption within a short period of time, and which exhibit good integrity, firm texture, and desirable flavor upon rehydration. U.S. Pat. No. 4,495,214 discloses a process for the production of quick cooking pasta products. The process comprises combining wheat flour, water, a carbonate, an acidic leavening salt and an interrupter to form a dough, extruding the dough through an extrusion cooker under conditions to react with the acidic leavening salt and at least partially to gelatinize the starch in the flour, and drying the extruded, formed pasta product. Methods and apparatus for preparing a precooked pasta product are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No 4,540,592. High temperature pumping and back mixing zones are utilized to form a gelatinized pasta dough by uniformly mixing a cereal flour and blending it with water. The dough is subjected to shearing conditions at elevated pressures and temperatures. U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,439 discloses an extrusion process for manufacturing a quick cooking wheat pasta product.
None of the prior art methods provides a process for making pasta products with legume flours. The present invention provides flexibility in producing legume pasta products with improved textural and flavor characteristics by high temperature extrusion cooking. The products can be produced quickly and economically by using a twin screw extruder or a single screw extruder.